Another former Wisconsin player finds a home in the NFL.
Earlier this month, quarterback Bart Houston earned a tryout with the Oakland Raiders. On Tuesday, he signed with the Pittsburgh Steelers.
BadgerNation.com’s Ben Worgull first reported the news of the Wisconsin Badgers signal caller signing a contract. Minutes later, Houston tweeted, “I’m a Steeler!” The AFC North organization has not yet made it official yet, but indications appear he has signed as an undrafted free agent.
There are currently four quarterbacks on the Steelers’ roster, including rookies Joshua Dobbs (fourth round selection out of Tennessee) and Nick Schuessler (undrafted free agent out of Clemson). Houston joins former teammate and first-round draft pick T.J. Watt in Pittsburgh.
A Dublin, Calif., native, Houston played in 26 games for Wisconsin and ended his career completing 125-for-192 passes (65.1 percent) for 1,540 yards and nine touchdowns. He was part of the winningest class in school history. Off the field, Houston excelled—earning Academic All-Big Ten honors from 2013-16.
I'm a Steeler!
— Bart Houston (@BartHouston_13) May 16, 2017
From our article on May 1:
Last season, Houston started five games at quarterback, going 4-1 in those contests. Though he was benched during Wisconsin’s close win at home against Georgia State in September, he slowly worked back into the fold in a platoon with redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook starting with the win at Iowa on Oct. 22.
Towards the end of last season, Houston emerged more as a reliable quarterback who has an NFL-caliber arm and exhibited solid decision making and a touch on some of his passes. Over the last four games of season, he completed over 77 percent of his throws for 558 yards with no interceptions, including 11 of 12 passes for 159 yards in UW’s 24-16 win over Western Michigan on Jan. 2, tying the Cotton Bowl record for completion percentage in the process.
#BartHeisman going out on top pic.twitter.com/AVDgl1axuE
— Zach Rosen (@ZacharySRosen) January 2, 2017